Work is well underway in Ethiopia with the funds from the community at Global Giving!

Program Review

Once the project construction is complete, our implementing partners review the functionality and the community’s response and impact of the project.

A large part of the success of any water program is changing behavior of local communities. This involves not only extensive and appropriate training on using the new water projects like keeping the space around it clear from contamination (many villages build a fence to keep out animals), and a system for maintenance and repair.

Maintenance and Sustainability

Here’s a great excerpt from a recent story on the critical need for building in maintenance and sustainability in the long term for each of our programs...

At charity: water, we know that building a water project is the easy part. Keeping clean water flowing over time, however, is a complex business that requires money, training and innovative thinking. It's something we've always been committed to.

In some cases, up to 30% of the cost of a charity: water project goes into training and educating the community about how to take care of the well after we're gone. At first, our field partners start with ownership.

We believe if the community feels a strong sense of ownership, they'll see their well as a critical asset to everyone and take good care of it collectively. Another important piece is the formation of a Water Committee. A 6-8 person team is selected from the village (often it's at least half women) and trained to make minor repairs. Often, our partners will leave spare parts for the village in case the well breaks -- because sooner or later, something always breaks. If the Water Committee is in place and active, that will keep water flowing most of the time. But sometimes a problem arises that's too big for even the best Water Committee members to tackle. Communities could wait months for repairs while they go back to drinking dirty water.

Work is well underway in Ethiopia with the funds from the community at Global Giving!

Construction

On the ground, construction and drilling are wrapping up. The partners continue training the community about safe water supply, sanitation and personal hygiene.

The Global Giving grant is utilizing a number of different water project technologies or “interventions” as our programs team calls them. Specifically, this grant will go towards shallow boreholes, a spring protection system, rehabilitation and two school projects.

Here’s more information about the different types of projects:

Hand-Dug Well

Hand-dug wells are possible in areas with a high water table. The community usually contributes time and labor, sometimes digging up to three months to reach clean water deep underground.

Spring Protection

Spring protection systems pipe clean water from natural springs. Their reach depends on the water yield; some provide water for a couple hundred people, others can be piped down to several villages.

Rehabilitation

When there’s a broken or abandoned non-charity: water project nearby, our partners find it cost-effective to repair and improve these existing projects. They also train the communities to prevent future breakdowns.

Schools

It’s a striking fact, but half the world’s schools don’t have access to clean, safe drinking water and latrines. This is especially devastating for young girls who often end their education when they reach puberty because of lack of access to a private and secure toilet.

After construction is complete, the partners will review the functionality of the water projects, the community’s response and impact.

Thank you! As of October 1, 2011 the project goal of $100,000 to fund water projects in Ethiopia has been surpassed! Already $85,608 of the funds have been granted to the field and the projects are underway. The remaining funds up to $101,866.95 will be granted in the coming months and we’ll keep reporting back on the status. All future donations will help support general water project costs in the 19 countries where we currently work.

Construction and community

Right now on the ground drilling permits and materials are being purchased. Project sites are evaluated and physical construction at the water point has begun. Where possible, our partners enlist local community members to help dig wells, construct filters, build ditches for piping or help out with any other construction tasks. Our maintenance models for each project reflect the community; often, this means our partners train a local Water Committee to collect fees to maintain their projects.

We believe in water as a catalyst for social change. Our partners try to make sure the underserved or minority members of a community are represented and served by our water projects.

Hygiene and sanitation

As we mentioned in the previous report, the success of a water project largely depends on community engagement and long-term behavioral change. During this time period in the water project the community will attend hygiene and sanitation trainings to become educated about the health issues surrounding dirty water and how to properly care for their water project to prevent contamination.

Simply giving someone a latrine doesn’t mean you’ve solved the problem; they must want to use it and understand its impact on their health. We fund bathrooms at institutions like schools and health clinics, to make them cleaner, safer and more desirable places to be.

Changing behavior is often key to preventing diseases, and whenever possible, we support handwashing trainings as well as educational presentations on food protection, safe water storage and other behaviors.

This kind of participation is essential to lasting behavioral change and proper care of the project by the community.

We’re excited to inform you that your funds have been sent to the field! Over the next year your investment will be put to work to bring clean and safe drinking water to thirteen communities and one health clinic.

Appropriate solutions

Field teams have spent months surveying some of the most remote areas on earth to help us determine the most feasible and appropriate water solution for every community. This can often depend on water availability, geographical conditions and the capacity of the community members to operate and maintain the project overtime. A spring protection can be a low-cost, high impact solution for a community living in a mountainous area. Once field teams have identified the spring, they need to spend time studying the surrounding conditions to make sure it can produce a reliable flow throughout the year and best serve the needs of the current (and future) population.

In Ethiopia, hand-dug wells, spring protections, shallow boreholes and rehabilitation are common and appropriate solutions.

Keeping it local

We’re committed to water projects that last. Over the next several months our partners will spend time with these communities, preparing them for their new water project. To instill a sense of ownership, a Water Committee will be established to manage each water point - at least half of that committee will be made up of women. Committee members are elected by the community and are trained directly by our local partners to be ambassadors for hygiene, sanitation and proper use of the project. They’re encouraged, and often institute, a collection of monthly or lump sum fees to be deposited in a bank account and used for minor repairs. Each committee will also be responsible for electing two project caretakers, each provided with a tool kit at the end of their training on basic maintenance. Each local government is also provided a tool kit and spare parts.

This kind of participation is essential to lasting behavioral change and proper care of the project once it’s fully handed over the community under the care of their local government.

charity: water has been committed to providing access to safe drinking water in Ethiopia since 2007. It’s currently our most concentrated investment and we’re excited to continue working towards eradicating the water crisis district by district. In northern Ethiopia, we have already nudged the needle in the direction of total water access. And through your gift, we can move it more.

Ethiopia is one of the 11 poorest countries on the planet with more than 40 million people living without access to safe water. Landlocked in the Horn of Africa, Ethiopia borders Eritrea to the north, Sudan to the west, Kenya to the south, Somalia to the east, and Djibouti to the northeast. With almost two-thirds of Ethiopian’s illiterate, the country’s economy revolves around agriculture, which in turn relies on rainfall that is inadequate, unpredictable and uneven in its distribution.

Ethiopia averages 40% clean water coverage across the country, with higher rates of clean water clustered in cities and larger towns. In rural parts of the country, where our partners focus their efforts, just one in three people have access to clean water while only 13% have access to adequate sanitation services. At any given time it is estimated that half of the country’s population of 80 million people is suffering from an unnecessary water-related disease, and more than 250,000 children under the age of five die each year from diarrhea.

Region Overview

GlobalGiving’s campaign funds will serve several communities in the Tigray region of Ethiopia.

Tigray is the northernmost region of the country and is home to more than 4 million people with has less than 50% clean water coverage. While water availability varies greatly across the region, the majority of Tigreans obtain their water from rivers, ponds, streams, and unprotected springs. They also have to share these water sources with livestock and wild animals, which results in a dirty, tainted water supply. Our local partners have identified those communities in highest need as well as effective, sustainable water solutions to help them.

We’re truly grateful to ABC 20/20 for featuring charity: water and inspiring hundreds of individuals around the globe to support our work. We’re looking forward to sharing the impact this investment can have on thousands of lives for years to come.

About Project Reports

Project Reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.

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